Tuesday, May 19, 2009

Douglas Hogg's grandfather

Douglas Hogg - the MP who charged the taxpayer for cleaning out his moat - has announced today that he will not be standing at the next general election.

Hogg is the son of Lord Hailsham, but his grandfather was a Conservative politician too - Sir Douglas Hogg.

In his The Guardsmen: Harold Macmillan, Three Friends and the World They Made, Simon Ball records Macmillan's reminiscences of the formation of Bonar Law's government.

Macmillan had called on a duke (not having the book in front of me, I cannot tell you which):

I found Lord Derby in conference with him. The Duke ... pointed out the extreme weakness of the front bench in the House of Commons ...

"Ah," said Lord Derby, "you are too pessimistic. They have found a wonderful little man. One of those attorney fellows, you know. He will do all the work."

"What's his name?" said the Duke.

"Pig," said Lord Derby. Turning to me, the Duke replied, "Do you know Pig?" ...

It turned out to be Sir Douglas Hogg!

1 comment:

Dead Dog Bounce said...

Reminds me of a similar story.

Mrs. Hogg was very senior in John Major's Downing Street team.

They met at Oxford. The future Mrs. Hogg was a student journalist, while Mr. Hogg was a student politician.

TFM Hogg used to refer to him as "Hogglet" in print, I seem to recall reading.